iPod Shuffle Challenge FLUFF
by muerte'chan o.O
Summary: Pairing is IchiRuki, mostly post-424. 10 drabbles done to 10 random songs on my iPod. R&R.
1. Chapter 1  Pieces

Pieces- Red

_I'm here again_

_A thousand miles away from you_

_A broken mess_

_Just scattered pieces of who I am_

"Aren't you lonely?"

He finds the pieces of random crap Rukia left behind everywhere, now. Her Chappy posters in his room, the bed in the closet, her gay manga hidden neatly under the mattress. When he opens his closet door, her scent invades his lungs. And the notes. She left behind little notes, little reminders that he had usually ignored, thrown in the trash.

_Laundry day Friday __:D_

_Don't forget Inoue-san's birthday soon._

_Thank Yuzu for breakfast. You never do._

_DO YOUR DAMN HOMEWORK! _

_Tell Karin I'm coming to see her soon._

He finds them in the randomest of places. Under his bed, or taped to his locker at school. In his sock drawer. Around the house in various places. Some of them he has to look to find them. He goes to her favorite places, searches through her favorite things. Her favorite swing at the park. Behind a poster of Chappy. Taped on the underside of a juice box. He looks in _his_ favorite places. On the roof of the school. His bed. The ceiling he used to stare at for hours.

They're everywhere. _She's_ everywhere. Reminding him every day what he's lost, what he still has.

"Like hell I'd be."

_Then I see your face_

_I know I'm finally yours_

_I find everything_

_I thought I lost before_

_You call my name_

_So you can make me whole_

**Likey? There's more too come, and thanks to my UBER AWESOME SEXY BETA-READER KAKASHI'S BITCH who wouldn't share the shuffle button, they're mostly sappy songs. 10 sappy songs on her iPod, and she manages to find almost all of them. Nice. **

**Link to my beta's profile, check out her stories at (.net/u/2261777/Kakashis_Bitch) without the spaces.**

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	2. Chapter 2 Shattered

Shattered – Trading Yesterday

It seemed to rain a lot.

He was ditching school again, just walking the streets of Karakura. A lone street cat's eyes flick up at him, watching his movements warily. He's found himself in a back ally, the slummy part of town where his mother once told him she would ground him for a month if she ever learned he was there.

His ears perk up at the sound of a window shattering, glass tinkling onto the concrete ground, sending little droplets into the air. He looks around, seeing nothing at first. The ground is shaking beneath his feet. His gaze turns upwards.

Ishida, drawing his arms back, as if holding a bow. He releases his left hand, and relaxes. More glass shattering, the hollow having dropped onto a closed shop and disappeared. Ishida looks down, and the two nod to each other silent understanding before he turns to quietly slip back into class.

**Sorry it's so short. I still like it though. You?**

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	3. Chapter 3 Savin' Me

Savin' Me – Nickelback

_Come please I'm callin'_

_And oh, I scream for you_

_Hurry I'm fallin', I'm fallin'_

He doesn't know how they do it. All of his friends, they're still the same. The faces change, but the way Inoue greets him with a bright, "Good morning, Kurosaki-kun," and how Ishida gives a derisive snort every time he says something stupid is no different from before. Talking to Chad is still like trying to draw water out of stone, and Tatsuki still beats him up. Regularly. Particularly viciously within the last week of the month.

Since he's lost his powers, Ichigo feels lost, almost. His friends are still going at the same pace as before. Never missing a beat, never stumbling over a step. Of course, they're the same people. They haven't changed at all, in fact. Nobody but Ichigo has changed.

He's missing. He's missing his beat, he's tripping up on his steps. He's falling, always falling, but never changing. Never moving. Not anymore.

**I like this one, its sad but it works.**

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	4. Chapter 4 Circles

Circles – Hollywood Undead

_I was walking in circles, I hurt myself_

_Just to find my purpose_

_Everything was so worthless, I didn't deserve it_

_But to me you were perfect_

He can't remember the life he had before she came. When she came, everything was flipped sideways, upside-down and backwards, all mixed up.

Before? A never-ending circle, one he had been familiar, and infinitely bored to tears with.

Get up (GOOD MOOORNING, ICHIGO!). Go to school. Hang out with his friends (_IIIIIIICHIIIIIGOOOOOOO!_) and then, after school, whatever. Go home for supper, dodge the attack on his neck from Goat-face. Go to bed. And begin the circle again.

Then Rukia came.

Train. Fight. Protect. Train. Fight. Protect. Again, again, again. Not necessarily in that order. A new circle, one he had almost gotten used to. Aizen screwed it up that time.

The last few months was war. Fight. No training. Eyes set only on the Final Getsuga Tenshou.

Then it was over.

Now he's only walking in a straight line, looking for another circle to begin.

**Shrugs.**


	5. Chapter 5 I Tried

I Tried – Akon

_It's like I'm taking five steps forward and ten steps back_

_Tryin' to get ahead of the game, but I can't seem to get it on track_

_And I keep running away, the ones who say they love me most_

_How could I create the distance when it's supposed to be close?_

He can't say he's sad. He's got what he wanted- a life without ghosts.

A world to himself without an inner hollow trying to get control of your body, to kill.

No zanpaktou that was as sarcastic as they come.

No little midget living in his closet.

The midget had been useful, he guesses. Hell, she'd saved his life more than once.

Everyone, all his friends, his teachers, his family, can see he's different, now. Those who are in on it look at him with pity in their eyes. Those whose aren't look at him with indifference, just another face.

He's attempted, once, to be the old Ichigo, but everyone had seen right through him.

He can't grin, or even scowl like he used to. He's still missing those beats, those stupid little steps.

Missing the midget in his closet.

Those little notes she left almost make him want it all back. The ghosts, the crazy Shinigami, the fights, the constant attempts on his life. Almost.

**This one is cute too. Top 3.**

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	6. Chapter 6 Gunnin'

Gunnin' – Hedley

_And I'm gunnin' for you, I'm gunnin' for you_

_And I will wait, I'll write another letter to myself_

_And I will find out that morning comes faster alone_

A note. Just another little note. He cocks his head a little, pondering it. Picking up a pen, he grins and scratches words at the end in reply.

_DO YOUR DAMN HOMEWORK!_

(You know, you're getting a little behind yourself, midget.)

_Thank Yuzu for breakfast. You never do._

(I did. She was surprised.)

_Tell Karin I'm coming to see her soon._

(She can't wait. She has a lot of questions I can't answer. She's really strong.)

_Laundry day Friday :D_

(Oh thanks, I should go do that. I can't believe I ever let you do it.)

_Don't forget Inoue-san's birthday soon._

(I didn't. I gave her your old Chappy bag. She really liked it.)

Setting down the pen, he waits patiently for her to reply.

Teehee I adore this one.


	7. Chapter 7 Far Away

Far Away – Nickelback

_...and I miss you, been far away for far too long_

_I'll keep dreaming you'll be with me and you'll never go_

_Stop breathing if I don't see you anymore..._

It's been 2 years, maybe a little less. The time on his alarm clock reads 2:00 am. He sits up in his bed, staring at the closed closet door. He hasn't really planned anything, just wants to go to bed without wondering what tomorrow brings. No one else is awake, his father snoring loudly in his room across the hall. He smiles tiredly to himself. Maybe on some subconscious level he knew what today was.

He slowly lies back down and closes his eyes, her face smiling back at him from his thoughts.

"Happy Birthday, Rukia."

**Hmm. They're getting shorter. I might have to do something about that.**

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	8. Chapter 8 Motivation

Motivation – Sum41

_Nothing's new, everything's the same_

_It keeps dragging me down, it's getting kind of lame_

_I'm falling further behind_

_There's nothing to explain_

_No matter what you say_

_Nothing's gonna change my mind_

He's chuckling to himself in his bedroom, radio on full blast. He's alone, of course. Alone, the only way he can be himself again, the real Ichigo, not that robot his friends know. The only time he can let himself remember her.

Oh, she had been rough, he remembers. And mean. And demanding.

And sweet. And strong. And brave.

His reason.

Kurosaki Ichigo, always driven by that urge to protect something. His family, his friends. The world as he knew it. It was how he kept sane, what made him feel alive.

But when there's nothing to protect, no war to go running off to, he needs something. Just something to keep him going. And that had been her. His reason, his constant motivation.

Even for the littlest things.

**Sigh. I think they're all cute, ok?**

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	9. Chapter 9 Can't Tell Me Nothing

Can't Tell Me Nothing – Kayne West

_Don't you ever fix your lips like collagen_

_And then say something where you're gonna end up apologin'_

_Let me know if it's a problem, man_

_Aight, man, holla then_

Renji is pissed.

He doesn't know why. Or maybe he did, once, but he isn't listening to reason anymore. He approaches Ichigo from behind and Ichigo doesn't notice till he hears the wind whistle around Renji's fist as it comes around hard. He catches it with his hand.

"Hey, Renji." From far way, Ichigo notices that the other look different somehow. Vicious. Livid.

""_YOU!_" He throws a punch with his other fist, and again Ichigo catches it, his arms crossing in the air. They tumble to the ground, Renji on the war path, Ichigo only barely able defend himself. As powerful and toned he is from being a shinigami, Renji's far more experienced, even in a gigai. And definitely stronger.

With a final blow to the chest, Ichigo sprawls on the ground, clutching his stomach with bloody hands.

"You just had to change her. You just had to," Renji accuses in a low, angry tone. He spits at Ichigo with perfect aim.

Ichigo can't find it in himself to care, even as he sees Renji's eyes begin to redden with tears. Finding his voice, he manages to cry out, but his voice is stale.

"Renji!"

"WHAT?" The Shinigami's voice catches on the word.

Ichigo wants to say something, anything, to make things right again. But when his lips part, all that comes out is a pathetic, "I'm sorry."

"Heh. Not half as sorry as I'm going to be," Renji mutters with a barking laugh, twinged with sadness, and reaches out a hand to help the other up.

Rukia beats the crap out of him when she learns of his little visit with Ichigo. It takes weeks for him to be able to sit down without wincing.

Rukia is _pissed._

**Not bad. Second favorite.**

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	10. Chapter 10 Back Burner

Back Burner – August Burns Red

_How far will you go before it's too late?_

_Slipping on the ice again, you've become so cold_

_Lucky for you, rock bottom is in sight_

_Your wake up call is set for now_

_And the trail you have followed has come all the way to the end_

(Ichigo's Inner World)

His poor inner world.

It's storming there. Lightning, hail, floods, rain, tornadoes, hurricanes, cyclones.

It's dangerous there. Skyscrapers falling, tipping. Debris everywhere, flying cows, glass shattering.

It's dark there. It's hard for a black sun to fight an eclipse.

In the midst of it all, right at the centre of the hurricane- the eye if you will- sits Zangetsu. He can no longer move or talk, or even communicate with Ichigo to rail on him for letting this happen.

To be honest, he's pissed. There's... snow. In a never-ending landscape, there is snow everywhere, and he hates snow. If one were to glance Ichigo's inner world, you would see white, and a tiny blob of black that was the dormant zanpakotu.

_Heh_, he thinks to himself. _If Ichigo ever re-awakens his powers, he is in for a hell of a surprise._

**My absolute favorite!**

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